Thursday, June 14, 2007

TAXI TAXI! Taxi Taxi! (Rumraket)

Somewhere between CocoRosie, The Sundays and Susanna & The Magical Orchestra is Taxi Taxi!, a duo formed by Stockholm-born and bred seventeen-year old twin sisters Miriam and Johanna Berhan. On the back of the interest generated by a couple of demos posted on the Internet, Taxi Taxi! have performed an impressive number of live dates in Scandinavia and have now been enrolled to take part in some of Europe’s biggest festival. Their eponymous debut EP has just been released on Efterklang’s Rumraket imprint.

In just six songs and nineteen minutes, the pair create achingly beautiful melodies built from sparse arrangements, with often little more than an acoustic guitar or a piano to fall back on. At times, echoes of a lonely accordion or harmonica flicker a moment, casting a delicate shadow over a song before vanishing again. Intriguingly alike, the two voices are hauntingly reminiscent of Harriet Wheeler, especially on opener All I Think Of and on the stunning Heart. While they often evolve separately, they at times get locked into rich harmonies which show vast emotional potential.

The songs are deceptively simple little vignettes caught between melancholy and reverie, with melodies as soft and light as morning dew, dropped over delicately fingerpicked guitars or airy piano lines. From the contrasted tones of All I Think Of or Water to the breathtaking Belle, To Hide This Way, Heart and Mary, Taxi Taxi! charm, touch and convince again and again. Despite their young age, the Berhan sisters show incredible control and maturity over the six songs of this EP, recorded with producer Björn Yttling, of Swedish pop band Peter, Björn and John. One of the most beautiful records you’re likely to hear all year.